Does anyone care? Really? Anyone? I’m a ‘tab and I can’t get myself worked up about it - but apparently over 7 million people in Britain care to watch it. Losers. The Boat Race is one of the most crashingly dull and pointless sporting activities that has ever graced the land, centred around a farcical and elitist rivalry, yet one afternoon every year it becomes the centre of national attention. It makes Formula One look like an engaging, exciting sport of the people.
Maybe it’s just because I hated it the one year I went to the river to watch it - the crushing crowds on the riverbank, a combination of Hurray Henrys and the local tramps swigging away on Stella until they get pissed enough to start threatening each other - it was awful. But even watching it on TV is a struggle, as Barry Davies and someone else try to fill the time with anecdotes and tedious technical analysis, it’s an absolute struggle to get excited about it, even if you are partisan. It is an awful example of British sport, so good riddance to an unnecessary burden on licence-payers’ money.
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February 25th, 2004 at 07:49:48
Interesting point you make, although you clearly didn’t watch last year’s Boat Race in particular, which was won by Oxford by less than 1 second! All the best, rhadamanthus.
February 25th, 2004 at 13:03:02
Actually, I have to admit I was one of the 7 million “losers” who watched last year’s race, but the fact the “best boat race ever” involved one of the teams coming from behind to, er, lose, demonstrates perfectly how terrible a spectator sport it is.